Engine oil change

Colin K

Colin K

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Hello,
I have a couple of TAMD41b's in my Corniche. They have done about 680 hrs each or so. Going to start the yearly servicing soon so will be doing the filters etc etc as normal.
Last Summer I got out of the river picked up a rope and blew up a gearbox resulting in me running one engine for 8 hours and the other for 13. I wonder if I need to change the oil this year does it degrade through age?

Cheers, Colin.
 
rafiki_ said:
Unless the oil has become contaminated or overheated, then probably ok for a couple of seasons.
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Hi,
Thanks for the reply. Nope all on tickover/cruising revs picked up the rope as I opened her up 5 miles into our cruise from Ipswich to the South coast. The only thing that fried was the gearbox�� Zis year ve try again with a spare box in a spare locker.
The oil on the dipstick is barely tinted certainly not black.

Cheers, Col.
 
Colin

Why not instead contact Finnings and have the oil tested. They will advise on its suitability plus you can see if anything nasty is building up - changing the stuff religiously removes any ability to monitor background increases in certain metals, e.g. lead - bearing metal. About £20 per sample. Bear in mind a typical truck or bus will travel many thousands of miles equating to at least 200 hours (6000 miles @ 30 MPH) between changes.

I am now entering my third season on the same oil.
 
Personally I change the engine oil at the start and end of the season regardless of hrs run. Why not run it for a while and treat it as a flush of sorts? It’s only around 9.5 lts not huge quantities.
 
superheat6k said:
Colin

Why not instead contact Finnings and have the oil tested. They will advise on its suitability plus you can see if anything nasty is building up - changing the stuff religiously removes any ability to monitor background increases in certain metals, e.g. lead - bearing metal. About £20 per sample. Bear in mind a typical truck or bus will travel many thousands of miles equating to at least 200 hours (6000 miles @ 30 MPH) between changes.

I am now entering my third season on the same oil.
Click to expand...

I would love to know where you get an oil sample tested for £20 ? Last time I had one done by Finning it was about £80
 
We use finnings cat in Glasgow for our workboats at around £20ish per sample purely because the previous owners carried it out from new so we have a history to compare results against
 
Colin K said:
Hello,
I have a couple of TAMD41b's in my Corniche. They have done about 680 hrs each or so. Going to start the yearly servicing soon so will be doing the filters etc etc as normal.
Last Summer I got out of the river picked up a rope and blew up a gearbox resulting in me running one engine for 8 hours and the other for 13. I wonder if I need to change the oil this year does it degrade through age?
.
Click to expand...

At the weekend I plan to change the oil in my engines that have done about 80 hours since this time last year.
However I think in your case with 13 hours run there would be case for doing nothing.
 
Colin K said:
Hello,
I have a couple of TAMD41b's in my Corniche. They have done about 680 hrs each or so. Going to start the yearly servicing soon so will be doing the filters etc etc as normal.
Last Summer I got out of the river picked up a rope and blew up a gearbox resulting in me running one engine for 8 hours and the other for 13. I wonder if I need to change the oil this year does it degrade through age?

Cheers, Colin.
Click to expand...

If I were you, and i have the same engine, I would leave it until the autumn and change it then. Oil does deteriorate with age but not significantly in a year or two. Better to have fresh oil over winter if not being used. If you are still unsure, change the oil now, no need to change the oil filters. £50 for new oil if it helps you sleep. I use this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EXOL-SHP...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
Normally annually - but this is not normal such low hrs AND a mech failure.
Reason why bring the Mech failure back into the equation is this ——
You be guttered if the repair did not hold or indeed something else happened and you did another basically single figure hrs again after spending man hrs and £ on it unknowingly another season gonna be ruined a few hrs later .

So in this particular case .
Leave it . Bank your spanner time and £ for now .

As said above if you end up with 80 hr - hope you do btw uneventful useage , if your bored by October, change the oil .
Apparently it’s not the lubricity it’s the build up of toxic substances in a marine diesel that necessities an oil change .
Corrosive acids sat on the mating surfaces - more a chemical attack 1st .
Having said that the reason it turns black quickly is point I keep carping on about re loose rings and low EGT ,etcetc
Unburnt nasties get past the rings into the oil ,theses can be mega adrasive .
However @ such low hrs even at sub efficiency EGT,s I think the oil can cope in this case .
So oil changes are done to dilute nasties that form sludge really - hence the end of season hypothesis.

I like this little piece about shortened marine diesel life —- note the word MARINE

Agglomerated soot clusters are commonly called sludge. Second, only to high temperatures, sludge does more damage to a diesel engine than anything else.
Without oil, a diesel engine runs steel on steel. Pistons rub on cylinders and valve hinges grind. In a matter of minutes, the engine will overheat and seize up. With any luck, the damage will not be permanent.
But, sludge literally, sands down the interior components of a diesel engine. The engine will not typically overheat or seize up immediately. But, the damage created by sludge can be far worse.
 
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